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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25207831">Snake Charmer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes'>SleepsWithCoyotes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Archival Fic, Don't copy to another site, Other, Pining, Snakeporn, Snakes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:53:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,091</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25207831</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's all fun and games until somebody loses a snake.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beast/Dagger (one-sided), Beast/Joker (one-sided), Dagger/Snake, Dagger/Snake/Emily</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Snake Charmer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Back to working on moving stuff over from the spambot...this one's from 2009, and it's all Emily's fault I ship Snake/Dagger (ch. 30, pg. 15).  ♥ ♥ ♥</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Inside the ring, the tiger was growling, lashing her tail, snarling at every sudden move around her. When her trainer's whip came up, Betty's roar shook the practice tent, one big paw raking the air before the cue was fully given. The humid air under the canvas dragged at every limb, made moving a chore, but a bad-tempered tiger stretched everyone's nerves tight. Easing away from the ring, the newer talent bunched together, antelopes at the watering hole, stilling juggling pins and their own tumbling selves to keep from drawing the big cat's attention.</p><p>"Grumpy, grumpy," Beast chided, shaking her head with one fist still planted on her hip. "Well, I don't like the rain either, but you don't see <i>me</i> complaining."</p><p>Betty grumbled and gave her trainer a sour look, her eyes sliding away from Beast's level stare.</p><p>Perched on an empty crate left over from setting up the tents, Dagger flipped a knife over and over in one hand, his foolish smile stretched wide. <i>Magnificent</i>. Everything about her, from that fearless laugh to the cocksure way she stood, queen of the ring, the tiger, all of them. Absolutely magnificent.</p><p>He was so engrossed in watching her at work, he nearly fumbled the knife in shock when something tickled his ear. Hunching into his shoulders and squirming away, he turned to snap at whoever to cut it out and came face to face with round yellow eyes in a narrow red face and stared cross-eyed, open-mouthed, as the snake's tongue flicked the tip of his nose.</p><p>"Gah!" he said, jumping a second time as his own knife thunked down between the careless sprawl of his legs, blade burying several inches into the splintering wood. A round of laughter, not unkind, rose up all around him, but the embarrassed fury he would have felt <i>out there</i> never came. It was just his family, and that...that was just Snake, the new guy, and one of his pets.</p><p>"Sorry," Snake said in a low, uninflected voice. "Says Emily."</p><p>Dagger opened his mouth, closed it again with a snap. "Emily?"</p><p>The serpent draped around Snake's shoulders rose up, swaying sinuously as she hissed.</p><p>"Pleased to meet you...she says."</p><p>Dagger stared at the snake. Then he stared at Snake. "Uh," he said. "Right."</p><p>Two pairs of yellow eyes watched him, equally unreadable. Snake didn't <i>look</i> like he'd meant to startle anybody, Dagger had to give him that, but Snake was hard to read. He hadn't been with them long, but no one had ever seen him get upset or excited about anything, as cold-blooded as one of his pets. And his eyes, as weird as the fine golden scales that covered his body, were hard to meet, harder still to escape once they caught you.</p><p>Snake looked away first, turned his face towards the ring, and suddenly Dagger could breathe again.</p><p>Just that quick he felt stupid for freezing up like that, shame prickling hot and uncomfortable in the pit of his stomach. Being stared at might be their <i>jobs</i>, but that didn't make it friendly when you got it from your own people. Joker would've hauled him off by his ear if he'd caught Dagger gaping like that, and he didn't like to think what Doll would do to him.  A kick in the shins was probably the least of it. And anyway, Snake wasn't so bad when he wasn't striking you dead with that stare of his. He was just so quiet.</p><p>Dagger cleared his throat, ducked his head as he pried his knife out of the crate and inspected the tip. Not ruined, at least, but he'd sharpen it before the show. He'd never forgive himself if he slipped. Glancing sidelong at the other man, he found Snake's eyes fixed coolly on Beast, the eyes of his pet--Emily, was it?--fixed on him.</p><p>"Um...she's pretty," Dagger offered, at a loss for anything else to say. "The snake, I mean."</p><p>She actually sort of was, if you forgot that she was deadly: a sleek length of black scales banded with deep red and vibrant yellow, her muscular coils draped lazily around Snake's neck and shoulders. She looked almost sleepy, not nervous like most snakes would be around this much commotion, and Snake wore her with stoic indifference. Except that he was actually <i>wearing</i> her, and Dagger hadn't seen him get that close voluntarily to anything else. Just those snakes of his.</p><p>Emily's tongue flicked the air in his direction before she turned her head toward her handler.</p><p>Grinning expectantly, Dagger waited for Snake to "translate," for a thank-you on behalf of the serpent and maybe a thawing of that silence.</p><p>He didn't know what to make of it when Snake blushed, skin pinking in the hair-fine seams between his scales, throwing them into sharp relief.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div>Ears still ringing with the roars of the crowd, Dagger stumbled wearily through camp, letting his shoulders droop once he was safely out of sight. Summers might be short, but they made up for it in sheer awfulness, and he grimaced at the feel of his costume sticking to his skin. "Go on, Dagger," he grumbled to himself, "a little heat won't kill you, Dagger...."<p>"It won't," Beast snapped, ducking out of her tent as he passed, and he came close to tripping over his own two feet as he whipped back around. She looked miserable herself, irritable as one of her charges, her skin glistening already above the perfect bow of her lips, through the tight lacings of her bustier.</p><p>"Big Sis!" he said with a huge grin, the spring in his step reviving as he angled in for a hug.</p><p>"Don't <i>touch</i> me," she growled, pushing him away with a hand in his face. "It's too hot for that."</p><p>"Er, well...I was going to hit the baths, and...."</p><p>"Good," she said bluntly. "You stink."</p><p>Slings and arrows. He swallowed a sigh and put on his best smile. "I could save you a spot?"</p><p>"I'm on in five," she muttered, wiping the sweat from her upper lip with the side of her thumb. "Who wants to see tigers in the middle of the day, anyway?"</p><p>He tugged at his striped cravat as he watched her stalk off, fierce and focused, and didn't call after her. Work was work, and they all had to pull their own weight...but he wilted a little as the heat he'd almost forgotten beat down on him with a vengeance. No sense in waiting to get cleaned up--and anyway, she'd just chase him out of the bathing area if she caught him watching her.</p><p>Ducking under the hanging tarp that made for a door of sorts, Dagger pasted on a grin for anyone who happened to be looking. Hot as it was, most of the crew were still busy with the show, but Jumbo was there, though he left with a nod after Dagger arrived. He also spotted Doll, and two newbies who didn't quite know where to look with a girl in there with them. That turned Dagger's grin sharp and satisfied, and he made sure to ruffle Doll's hair in passing as he strutted past.</p><p>Flat as a boy she might be, but Doll still was his cute little sister, and he'd better not catch <i>anybody</i> eyeing her up.</p><p>"Aaahh, it's too hot," he complained, skinning out of his work clothes and stretching until his spine popped. He left the knives strapped to his arms firmly in place until he was certain the new boys had gotten a good look at them, and dodged nimbly out of the way when Doll tried to splash him. "Hey, hey! I can do it myself!"</p><p>"Uh-huh," she said, folding her arms on the edge of the big wooden tub she was curled up in, her wide smile completely unfooled. "So get on with it, then, or I'll tell Joker you've forgotten how."</p><p>"Meanie. Can't you tell Beast instead? I want to be scrubbed down by Big Sis!"</p><p>Doll flung another handful of water at him, but he'd already stripped off his knives, so he just laughed when it hit, throwing his arms up in front of his face and turning half away.</p><p>After standing out in the sun all morning, the water in the big barrels was warmer than he'd like, but how often did you get a hot bath when you lived on the road? There was even a bit of a breeze, and he whistled tunelessly as he grabbed a bucket and filled it up. It'd be good to get clean, maybe relax for a few hours before he had to go on again that night. There'd be time enough to practice in the cooler hours after dawn.</p><p>Sitting on an overturned tub, he was so busy washing up he almost didn't notice the new arrival. It wasn't until Snake walked right past him, still dressed in that skirt-like bit of cloth tied at his hip, that Dagger glanced up from his bath.</p><p>They billed him as the snake-man--Joker introduced him as an Indian Naga when he really wanted to impress the crowd--and maybe that explained the costume, but it always put a squirmy feeling in the pit of Dagger's stomach to see him in it. It was worse watching him dance, because that was something you were supposed to watch girls do, right? Only the crowd ate it up, paid good money to see him at it. All Dagger knew was that Snake could move like one of his own pets when he cared to, which was just plain uncanny...but sort of amazing, too.</p><p>"Snake," he called, "how'd it go?" Because Snake was still new enough to need the encouragement, surely, even if he didn't show it.</p><p>Snake glanced over his shoulder, a thick rope of gleaming black unwinding itself from around his neck to peer at Dagger as well. "Fine," Snake murmured, "says Wilde."</p><p>Dagger laughed and shook his head. "Sure, sure." It wasn't lost on him that the two newbies were fleeing or that Doll was kneeling up in her tub, watching the snake with frank curiosity. "Saw you the other day," he added, even though it embarrassed him to admit he'd been watching too. "You're pretty good."</p><p>"He's not 'pretty good,'" Doll corrected him, rolling her eyes. "He's <i>incredible</i>. I wish I could dance like that."</p><p>"Oi! No you don't--you're supposed to stay little and cute! It's bad enough the way the customers look at Big Sis!"</p><p>Bad enough the way they'd looked at <i>Snake</i>, and that was just...weird. He guessed. Weird enough, anyway.</p><p>"Hmph. Like anybody's going to look at me," Doll muttered, dropping her chin down onto her arms, staring at the dry, trampled grass.</p><p>"Aw, c'mon, Doll. You know better than that. Right, Snake?"</p><p>The other man smiled in silent agreement, nodding once as he dipped his bucket. The serpent around his shoulders, it seemed, didn't have an opinion one way or another, but he guessed that figured.</p><p>Wait. Now Snake had him believing they talked too.</p><p>He managed not to stare as Snake chose a place to sit and dropped his hip-wrap, managed not to look over <i>at all</i>, though he couldn't help being curious. Well, who wouldn't be? Just looking at those scales, and wondering how far they went, and whether he even had them on his--</p><p>"You okay, Dagger?" Doll asked, giving him a worried look. "Y'didn't overdo it out there, did you? 'Cause you're all red."</p><p>"Oh, uh...really?" He laughed automatically, but it was strained, like his grin. "Well, maybe I did."</p><p>He really wished Doll hadn't said anything.  If he could've pretended he wasn't blushing, maybe it'd have gone away on its own. And he wished he had something more substantial than a ratty old towel over his lap, too, although <i>that</i> was something he didn't think he could explain if he tried.</p><p>But mostly he wished Snake hadn't glanced over just then, poker face cracking for the barest of instants as yellow eyes flicked down and then up again, curiosity and appraisal surfacing briefly before his expression smoothed out once more.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div>He was sitting in the mess tent, tugging at his bangs and wondering whether it was time to dye them black again when Joker slid onto the bench beside him and gave him a friendly clap on the back. The bony press of those skeletal fingers never failed to make him grin, though he'd rather have his other leg cut off than admit how warm it made him feel. Who cared if other folks thought Joker's hand was creepy? Joker liked to say it was Father who'd rescued them, Doc who'd made them whole, but Dagger knew better.<p>"So I hear you're getting along with Snake," Joker said, and Dagger felt his heart stutter in his chest. Was he blushing again? Oh, please tell him he wasn't blushing again. "That's good," Joker continued earnestly, ruffling his hair. "I was starting to think he wasn't happy here, the way he keeps to himself."</p><p>"Uh...I think he's just...you know. Shy," Dagger offered, peering sidelong at Joker while trying <i>not</i> to meet his eyes.</p><p>"Maybe so, but I'm glad he's making friends. Look, do you think--"</p><p>"Joker?"</p><p>They both turned towards the tent-flap, watched as Beast ducked through and glanced around, her tight expression soft for once, uncertain. "Over here," Joker called back, lifting his good hand to catch her attention, his other arm still slung companionably around Dagger's shoulders. He tried not to stiffen, threw on one of his better smiles, but Beast only glanced at him once before her eyes gravitated back to the man beside him.</p><p>"Sorry. If you're eating--"</p><p>"No, it's fine. Did you need something?" He sounded so nonchalant, like talking to her didn't make his tongue stumble or his face go prickly and cold.</p><p>"If you have a moment. The town council wanted to talk to us about coming back next year. Something about a centennial celebration. Do you think you could speak with them?"</p><p>"Of course," Joker said, ruffling Dagger's hair again before getting up from the bench. "Just lead the way."</p><p>He watched them go and didn't let his smile slip even after they were gone. Not that anyone was looking at him. They didn't stare at each other's wounds. But it was hard to choke down the rest of his dinner though a smile that forced, so eventually he just left it, walked out and kept his eyes on the ground, and didn't even try to follow where the other two had gone.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div>The nice thing about having a tent of one's own was that there was no one around to tell you to cheer up if you didn't want to.<p>It wasn't like he didn't know Beast had a thing for Joker.  <i>Everybody</i> knew that. She probably always had, and it wasn't like he could blame her, because Joker was...well, Joker. The one who looked out for them, kept them together, who'd taken the knocks for them until they could stand on their own two feet. Literally, in his case at least...and Beast's. It was just hard to stop hoping, because by everything he'd ever seen, Joker didn't love her any less than he loved all of them...and not any more than that, either.</p><p>Sitting up on his cot, he swung his legs over the side and scrubbed at his face, dug his hands into his hair and braced his elbows on his knees. Wasn't like he was the first fellow to make an utter fool of himself over a woman, or even the first to do it over Beast. Mostly she just ignored it, as uncomfortable with him as Joker maybe was with her. Joker just did a better job of not showing it.</p><p>The ripple of something colorful at his feet made him lift his head, and then he almost wished he hadn't. There was a snake curled up right there at his toes, longer than his arm, black with bands of red and yellow. It was a long moment before he dared to breathe, and he didn't dare move at all in case he startled her into striking. Her, right, because he was pretty sure he recognized this one.</p><p>"Emily?" he murmured, fighting the craziest urge to laugh. Well, at least if she killed him, he couldn't say they hadn't been properly introduced first.</p><p>The snake hissed at him, but he couldn't even pretend to know what she wanted. Would she hear it if he yelled for help? It wasn't like she had ears.</p><p>He did laugh then, but the snake didn't seem to mind. "You really do think of stupid things when your life's passing before your eyes, don't you?"</p><p><i>Hiss</i>, said the snake.</p><p>He'd just decided to take that as agreement when someone outside said, "Emily?"</p><p>"In here," Dagger said, feigning a calm that surprised even him when the one person he suddenly wanted most to see ducked into his tent.</p><p>Gone was the aloof, untroubled stare. Moving faster than Dagger had ever seen him, Snake all but pounced on his wayward pet, scooping her up in both hands and cradling her tight to his chest, as if he expected Dagger to hurt <i>her</i> and not the other way around. And he could have, he realized belatedly; it wasn't like he was in any want for knives, wasn't quicker--perhaps--than a half-tamed animal. If he'd moved slow enough, slyly enough, he could have had a blade in hand and the snake's head pinned to the ground before she drew back to strike.</p><p>The look in Snake's eyes was <i>awful</i>, though, tired and resigned, and that struck him dumb for nearly a full minute.</p><p>"What--what's wrong?" Dagger blurted out, barely knowing what he was saying, just that he wanted to make that look go away.</p><p>"We were--I was supposed to keep them in the tent," Snake said dully. "We promised."</p><p>And one had gotten out, and a promise was a promise, and--they could kick him out over something like this. Would have, if anyone had gotten hurt. Might still, if Dagger made a big deal out of it. He couldn't imagine where Snake would go without the circus, how he'd ever kept that many snakes fed before he hooked up with them.</p><p>"It's okay," he said, trying on a smile that for the first time all day didn't feel like a thick cake of stage makeup. "Maybe she just got lonely, huh? Why don't you ask her?"</p><p>Snake dropped his eyes, smiled down faintly at the snake in his hands, and said, "I wanted to see you."</p><p>Dagger felt his stomach go weightless, nothing but ringing silence inside his head.</p><p>"Says Emily."</p><p>He was on the verge of laughing, relief and a strange, stupid weight of disappointment pressing down on him when Snake looked up again. "Well. I did too."</p><p>He realized suddenly that Emily was the only serpent in the room, that Snake had come in without anything curled around his shoulders for the first time since...since <i>ever</i>, as far as Dagger knew. Which meant Emily hadn't just gotten out of the tent; she'd gotten away from Snake, made a beeline right for him, and....</p><p>God help him. He really was going to believe those snakes had minds of their own at this rate.</p><p>Snake was still watching him. Waiting. All he had to do was laugh off that odd declaration, and everything could go back to normal.</p><p>Funny thing was, he wasn't laughing.</p><p>"What's...." He swallowed hard when he heard his voice crack and tried again. "What's she feel like?"</p><p>Snake blinked at him, slow and deliberate, and made a false start towards the cot. Dagger's mouth twitched nervously, but then it quirked into a wider smile as he moved over, as clear an invitation as he could manage with his heart pounding in this throat.</p><p>He sort of expected Snake to be cold, but when Snake sat down beside him, he was warm enough when their knees brushed for Dagger to feel like the cold one. No wonder serpents loved him; he was a walking furnace.</p><p>"Here," Snake offered, holding out his cupped hands, Emily tangled up in the cat's cradle of his fingers.</p><p>He bit his lip, ready to flinch away if she took offense, but when he ran a fingertip down the curl of her back, she flexed sensuously under his touch. She was dry and cool, her scales smooth where he'd expected them to be rough, and the liquid shift of muscle under his fingertips was fascinating.</p><p>"You've never held a snake before?"</p><p>"I was born in London," he said with a shrug. To him that said it all, but maybe it didn't say enough to Snake. "You get rats and strays in London. Not snakes, so much." Or trees, or grass, or much of anything but hunger and pain and the workhouse.</p><p>"Oh," Snake said. And then, "Hold me."</p><p>Dagger peered up at the other man through his lashes, waiting for it this time, and grinned.</p><p>"Says Emily."</p><p>He laughed helplessly, leaning into Snake's shoulder a bit but holding out his hands, trusting them. "All right," he said. "Just don't bite me."</p><p>"She wouldn't do that," said Snake, easing the heavy curl of muscle and scale into Dagger's hands.</p><p>He was trying to muffle a surprised giggle at the ticklish feel of Emily's tongue exploring his wrist when he realized what Snake had said, how he'd said it. "Are you saying you would?"</p><p>Snake very nearly smiled. "Maybe."</p><p>He was still trying to wrap his head around that when Emily decided to coil herself around his arm, sliding up and up in a sinuous ripple, heading for his shoulder.</p><p>"Hey!" He didn't want to just <i>grab</i> for her, because what if she didn't like it? All the same, he wasn't sure he wanted her anywhere near his throat. Whatever Snake promised, she was still a snake herself, a real one, not just a guy with weird eyes and scales and--</p><p>The hand that touched his cheek, hesitantly at first before it settled there, was just as smooth as Emily's sides and just as impossible to shake off. Torn between worrying about the snake and worrying about the serious, intent look he was being given, he took a nervous breath, on the verge of saying, <i>wait, maybe we shouldn't</i>.</p><p>He didn't know whether Snake shut his eyes when their lips brushed or not, because his own had fluttered hesitantly, automatically closed. The press of Snake's mouth was light, barely there, and that made him crave more of it. He didn't care if that didn't make sense. <i>None</i> of this particularly made sense, like why he was kissing another man in the first place, and how long had he wanted to do that, anyway, and was it just Snake? Because he had no particular desire to kiss Joker, at least that he was aware of, and it sort of stood to reason that Joker ought to have been his first choice.</p><p>Maybe it wasn't just when your life was passing before your eyes that your mind broke down and started to babble. Maybe it was just anytime your brain turned off and your instincts switched on, because he definitely hadn't <i>thought</i> about it before he reached for Snake. His hands were just <i>there</i>, sliding down to anchor on one hip, up to mold his palm to the arch of a shoulder blade, mouth opening without a fight to a gentle flick of tongue.</p><p>"<i>Nn</i>," he heard, and God, was that him? It sounded like him, but he wasn't entirely certain until he heard it repeated, higher and more urgently. "<i>Nn</i>!"</p><p>Emily had reached his shoulder, curled herself around his neck, and now her tongue was tracing a ticklish line to the hollow of his throat.</p><p>He writhed, pulled back with a gasp, as far as the hands splayed across his back would allow. "Snake," he breathed, shuddering as Emily's head slid inside his shirt, along his chest. "Get--get her--oh, God--"</p><p>"It's all right," Snake murmured, which was no help at all. "You taste good...says Emily. Don't be afraid."</p><p>"I'm n-<i>nnah</i>!" If he hadn't been so very aware of the coil and drape of her, he might not have felt the fleeting dart of her tongue over his nipple at all, but it was maddening, too intense and too <i>little</i> all at once. "It's--Snake--"</p><p>"It's all right," Snake said again, reeling him back in when all he could manage was an arch and some desperate babble. "We've got you."</p><p>He let Snake kiss him again, tried not to thrash too much as Emily made her way down his belly, exploring the tight quiver of his clenched stomach muscles with a thoroughness that was distracting. Snake was no easier to ignore, hands tracing soothing passes down Dagger's back until his own hands unclenched enough to return the favor, kissing him breathless and then pulling his mouth away to follow Emily's circuitous path. When Snake nudged at his shoulder, pushing him down, they shifted together until they both fit without another word spoken.</p><p>The first touch of Snake's tongue on his prick nearly shocked him right off his cot, belated panic warring with a mantra of <i>good, please, don't stop</i> in his head. It was a man between his raised and parted knees, <i>Snake's</i> pale hair his hands were buried in, and it was the most amazing thing he'd felt in his life, even with the cool, coiled weight of a different kind of snake sprawled lazily across his chest. The curious flick of Emily's tongue made him buck and start every now and then, but Snake didn't seem to mind. He just leaned harder on Dagger's hips, took him deeper into his mouth, and didn't let up until Dagger came with a muffled shout.</p><p>He knew he ought to say something, but for once his head was totally, blissfully empty. What did you say to that, anyway? Other than--</p><p>"Emily's right. You do taste good."</p><p>He blushed, but he could hardly be blamed for <i>that</i>.</p><p>"Uh," he said, shifting restlessly. Snake had to be...and he wasn't sure he could do what Snake had just now, but maybe if he.... "Can...can I just...."</p><p>"It's okay," Snake said, and "Touch you?" Dagger finished in a rush, and they stared at each other foolishly for a few seconds as they worked out what the other had said.</p><p>"Please," said Snake, very softly, and Dagger gave him a lopsided grin.</p><p>"Come up here."</p><p>It displaced the heavy coils weighing down his middle when Dagger rolled towards Snake, but Emily flowed over them, around them, to wind herself once again around Snake's neck. In the dim lantern light inside the tent, it was harder to see the scales, and without that distraction, Snake was...he was <i>lovely</i>. Hard, lean and graceful, perfect beneath the skin. It was that skin that ruined him just like the rest of them, though, and Dagger could feel the difference as he traced his fingers gingerly down to take an unfamiliar length in hand, the same too-smooth texture of nearly-invisible scales even there.</p><p>Snake still looked amazing when Dagger worked up his courage and got on with it, gold eyes slipping closed until only hints of cool yellow glittered between thick, pale lashes, slit pupils round in the gloom. The hand he'd hooked at Dagger's hip clenched and relaxed in time, and Dagger couldn't make up his mind from one moment to the next whether he'd rather watch Snake come undone or sneak half-shy kisses between breathless pants of encouragement. Even nudging Emily aside with his cheek so he could taste the now-damp skin of Snake's bared throat didn't seem like such a bad idea, though the serpent tasted him as well, tongue feathering along his jaw.</p><p>"Dagger," Snake moaned with a catch in his voice, and Dagger pulled back, tightened his grip, and watched in unabashed fascination as Snake came, emptying himself all over Dagger's hand and his own stomach. It should have been disgusting, maybe, but it wasn't. Not with Snake looking so boneless and content, like he might be in danger of learning how to coil and hiss himself.</p><p>It took a few moments for Snake to get his breath back, and when he did, he captured Dagger's wrist, pulled it up to his mouth, and sucked Dagger's fingers in one by one. When Emily took her own taste, Dagger moaned, hand jerking in Snake's grip, but not to get away. God. There had to be something <i>wrong</i> with him if even a snake could tempt him. But at the moment, he just didn't care.</p><p>"Thank you," Snake said against his palm, and right, <i>that</i> was the polite thing he should have said all along.</p><p>"Um. You too." And with that said, he had no idea what came next. Would Snake want to stay? Was he supposed to ask? And what happened the next time they saw each other in the ring?</p><p>Snake's barely-there smile revived with a soft puff of laughter, mostly breath. "It's okay," he said. "Snakes aren't particularly romantic."</p><p>Oh, God. If he'd thought he'd felt awkward at any point that night, he'd clearly had no idea just how bad it could get. "I...I didn't mean...I'm in love with Beast," he blurted out, miserable but honest.</p><p>"I know."</p><p>"But she's...."</p><p>"Mm."</p><p>Snake hadn't tensed, wasn't looking at him any different, and Dagger sagged in a strange sort of relief he didn't care to examine too closely. "You don't mind?"</p><p>"You taste good. And you're warm."</p><p>He had to laugh, soft and thready, but grateful nonetheless. "Says Emily?"</p><p>"Her too."</p><p>Dagger closed his eyes, let his brow fall against Snake's with a sigh. "You can stay, if you want. It's okay."</p><p>"For a little while," Snake murmured, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. "The others will get lonely if I don't come back."</p><p>He could just imagine...and smiled despite himself when he pictured what Snake's bed must look like after he turned in for the night, one big knot of coils and scales in every color imaginable.</p><p>"All right," he said. "That's fine."</p><p>At least for a little while, he wouldn't sleep alone.</p>
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